Chocolate&Marshmallows
by LadyPalma
Summary: A sad afternoon for Neal at Granny's turn into a pleasant one thanks to an unexpected meeting. [Slight EvilFire]. Part 1/9 of a Christmas Challenge with different pairings; prompt: Chocolate&Marshmallows.


_This is my try for a challenge I've created along with other Italian fanwriters. The aim is to write 9 one-shots with different ships (or broships), following these prompts: _

_C-Chocolate H-Hugs; R- Rudolf; I-Ice Skating; S-Santa Claus; T-Tree; M-Mistletoe; A-Angel; S-Snowman._

* * *

**Chocolate&amp;Marshmallows **

It was two months since the return from Neverland, two months since Neal's proposal for a date at Granny's, two months since the failure of that attempt. And after two months, while Emma had started to go out somewhere else with someone else, he was still going everyday to the diner.

Anyway, that afternoon looked different, not only because Mrs Lucas and her grandaughter were decorating the place for Christmas, but most of all because that festive atmosphere had penetrated little by little inside him and it wasn't a good feeling at all. He had never liked that feast, because it was the one of family, of joy, and during all those years spent in different worlds, it didn't make him feel nothing but void and loneliness. That year it tasted probably even more bitter; of course, this time he wasn't physically alone, he had a son, he had a father, he had Emma, and yet all of these relationships were revealing themselves to be fragile and complicated.

"What are you doing? Don't you drink that?"

Neal looked quickly away from the window when he heard that voice at little distance and his confused expression turned into a surprised one, when he found in front of him the famous Evil Queen who was staring at him with a raised ayebrow and the arms crossed to her chest.

"The chocolate… It's more than a quarter that you deliberately ignore it" she continued, not aving received any ansie, hinting with a nod to the _not_ steamy cup.

The man looked down on the drink and instively touched the ceramic. It was icy, so icy that maybe in a little while it would have become a pudding. He didn't admitted that aloud though, as he didn't ask explanations about the careful and suspected observation of him made by the woman, after all.

"It's too sweet… Maybe I've mistaken ordering the chocolate with all these marshmallows…" he simply answered eventually, hinting a smile.

"Really? And yet, you seem the right kind of person with _sweety candy tastes_" she commented with sudden irony and also a trace of acidity, in spite of the meaning evoked by the two adjectives.

Neal frowned a bit and looked at her again, confused. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Regina started to laugh softly. '_It means that you seem and idiot and idiots are made of sugar'_, she would have liked to say, but instead she metaphorically bit her tongue and shook her head, as to let the topic fall.

Then, without being invited, she approached the opposite chair and take a sit right in front of him. The strangeness of that act seemed to go unnoticed anyway, quite the contrary he hinted a new smile and slightly pushed the cup and the little plate with the marshmallows towards her.

"Go on, have a taste… Clearly, it's the Evil Queen the one with _sweety candy tastes_, after all" he invited explicitly her, with an amused tone.

The woman rolled her eyes, trying to appear annioyed, but didn't wait for a second invitation. In fact, not wasting more time, she grabbed one of the mrshmallows and let it slip inside the hot – or better, _cold_ – chocolate.

"Mmm" she simply murmured, when she found herself tasting that explosive mix of sugar.

The truth was that the surplus of sweetness usually made her feel sick too, but in that moment that diabetic hug was a cuddle she didn't want to refuse, a comfort she felt she needed.

"You can finish it all.." Neal said, watching her amused and even unexpectedly softened by the scene.

"If you insist…" she replied, hinting a smile as well this time, and moving again the hand aiming for a new marshmallow.

Still watching her with curiosity, Baelfire raised his arm to call Ruby's attention and ordered something for hismelf too: a coffee. _Hot and bitter_.

They shared the needed time for that light meal and they spent together also a little more. They talked, made ironic jokes and revealed serious considerations, but in the main they remained in silence and both smiled sincerely and peacefully for the first time since a long.

They smiled, not because of the good taste of the meal or for the liveliness of the conversation, but because they were together and, contrary to any presumed expectations, neither of them seemed to dislike the fact.


End file.
